


Blame it on the concussion

by Ellusional



Category: The Half of It
Genre: American Chinese, Baby Gay, Clueless Ellie, Ellie becomes a Jock, F/F, Fluff, Gay Panic, Jealous Aster Flores, Paul is gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:54:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24372358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellusional/pseuds/Ellusional
Summary: Ellie and Paul made a deal. A deal that would set a series of very fortunate events to happen.
Relationships: Ellie Chu/Aster Flores
Comments: 6
Kudos: 104





	Blame it on the concussion

As Ellie and Paul both sat on the sofa with a warm hard boiled egg pressed against each of their banged up noses, all she could do was sigh as she replayed everything that led to this moment of total pain and humiliation.

— One Week Ago —

"Hey! Wait up!" Paul yelled as he ran up the steep hill to catch up to Ellie. Trying to ignore the jock, Ellie pushed herself to paddle her bike faster. She had manage to successfully get through her last day of middle school without any trouble, and really did not want her good mood to be soured by whoever was chasing her. Just when she thought she was gaining speed, she felt her bike being yanked to a sudden halt, causing her to lose balance and fall off her bike face first into the gravel.

"Ow...what the fuck is your problem, dude?!" Ellie groaned out angrily as she rolled on to her back in pain. Feeling a large shadow cast above her, she opened her eyes to see the dumb panic stricken face of her school's star quarterback, Paul Munsky.

"Oh god! Are you okay? I'm so sorry for stopping your bike like that. Your face is bleeding! Your hands are bleeding! I think your arms and legs might be too! Oh god! Is anything broken? I should take you to the hospital!" Paul rambled on in a panic as he gripped Ellie by the upper arms to lift her into sitting position. Feeling more pain with how Paul was jostling her, she just shut her eyes again to catch her breath.

"Stop it! I'm fine. Nothing's broken. I'm just a bit winded, so let me go. Give me some breathing space." Ellie finally manage to growl out while trying to shrug off Paul's grip. Hearing her request, Paul immediately let go and sat back.

After a few moments of silence, Ellie finally felt somewhat grounded again. She opened her eyes to observe Paul, who she noted sat cross legged in front of her quietly like a dog on guard, waiting for instructions. Sighing, she carefully tried to brushed off as much blood caked dirt off her hands as possible before trying to stand up. Seeing this, Paul quickly scampered forward to help the injured girl stand up.

"I'm really sorry, Ellie Chu. Please let me take you to the clinic to get checked out. Or at least let me drive you home." Paul pleaded guiltily. With so many point of injuries, and a possible concussion, Ellie decided to put away her pride, and allowed Paul to guide her to his truck.

"Fine. Take me to the clinic." Ellie stated and winced at the pain she felt on her face.

Once Ellie was seated in the passenger seat of Paul's truck, Paul ran back to get her bike and loaded it onto the truck bed. They sat in silence as Paul drove towards the clinic, and once they got settled in the waiting area of the medical clinic, Ellie finally decided to find out what Paul wanted from her.

"So Paul Munsky, what is it that you wanted from me? If it's to do with some outstanding essay you have to hand in over the school break, I'm no longer in business." Ellie stated bluntly. Paul looked at her with wide eyes and shook his head.

"Nn..no..that's not what I was going to ask. I would never cheat like that. It's just that I barely scraped through both maths and English this year. My coach said if I wanted to qualify for a full ride scholarship to college, being good at football and basketball was not enough. I will need to start working harder to improve my grades for both junior and senior year to achieve at least a B+ average. I asked Mrs Geselschap for help, and she recommended you to tutor me over the break. I have money. It's not much. But I can pay you." Paul stuttered out awkwardly. Ellie raised an eyebrow at this jock curiously. She had gone to school with this boy all her life, but had never personally interacted with him. From day one, she had lumped him with all the other entitled arrogant self-absorbed skirt chasing dumb boys, so she never bothered to interact with him.

It really surprised her that Paul Munsky was nothing like what she had assumed. Firstly he was polite and seemed nice. And secondly, instead of cheating, he seemed to really care about bettering himself, and was willing to work hard to achieve his goals. Ellie has always respected hard working people with goals and academic integrity. As ironic as it sounds (being that she herself use to make money selling academic papers to her peers).

In some ways she can totally related to Paul's struggles and desperation. Junior year was coming up soon, and she has been contemplating on how she could maximise her money earning capacity over the break, and do whatever she can to prepare herself to increase her chances of getting a full ride to college by the end of senior year. Hmm this could herself out of her inner monologues, she made a decision.

"Okay, Paul Munsky. Lets make a deal. If you can teach me how to play football well enough to join our school's football team, and supply us with free pork, AND sneak me an endless ration of Yakults, I will tutor you in all the subjects you are struggling with. Do we have a deal?" Ellie stated in a no nonsense tone. With a look of absolute confusion and surprise, Paul simple nodded in agreement.

"Good. We can layout an action plan once I don't look or feel like roadkill." Ellie replied to seal the deal, ending their conversation.

.

.

.

There were quite a few patients waiting in the clinic, so both teenagers have been sitting in awkward silence feeling bored, having absolutely nothing to do. When the bell of the clinic door sounded as it opened, both Ellie and Paul looked up curiously to see who had entered.

It was Aster Flores.

Sun kissed skin. Soulful eyes. Long wavy rich chocolate coloured hair. Sweetest smile. The school's most popular cheerleader, and daughter of Squahamish Baptist church's new Pastor. This was the beautiful goddess that entered Ellie's dull grey world one year ago, painting it metaphorically full of bold vivid colours whenever she was around.

Being so lost in her thoughts of Astor Flores, Ellie didn't notice said girl trying to talk to her. Feeling a sudden nudge to her side, she was shaken out of her Aster Flores daydream.

"What?" Ellie grumbled out grumpily, and turned her head to glare at Paul. Paul pointed his finger at something in front of them, so Ellie looked up to see what he was trying to show her. There standing just an arms length away from her was Aster. She was giving Ellie a look of amusement and inquisition?

This was the first time Ellie has ever been in such close proximity to Aster. Usually when she saw Aster nearby, she would gay panic and run away. She wasn't even sure Aster even knew she existed. Looking up at Aster now, she was star struck, and her smart smart brain just became very very dumb.

"I'm Ellie Chu." Ellie suddenly blurted out without processing, staring at the beauty before her with wide eyes and a straight face. Aster raised her perfect eyebrow at Ellie before giving her an endearingly amused smile.

"I know." Aster simply replied.


End file.
